Sirisena's demographic genocide deprives Tamils of livelihood in strategic coastal village of Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 November 2016, 23:41 GMT]Sinhala colonists in Ma'nal-aa'ru have robbed more than 200 cattle that belong to resettled Eezham Tamils in Kokkuththoduvaay, a strategically situated coastal village in Karai-thu'raip-pattu division of Mullaiththeevu district within the past two months, according to civil sources in Karai-thu'raip-pattu division. SL President Maithiripala Sirisena's ‘Mahaweli’ Ministry has been backing the Sinhala colonists at various locations in the belt of the Ma’nal- aa’ru stream at the tri-junction of North, North Central and Eastern Provinces. The motive of Colombo is to demographically de-link the contiguity of the Northern and Eastern Provinces. ‘System L’ of Mahaweli project targets the fertile areas in Mullaiththeevu while ‘System B’, the largest of the current projects under the Mahaweli scheme, aims to seize the resourceful interior lands of Batticaloa district.

The resettled Tamils at Kokkuththoduvaay and Ma'nal-aaru have been trying to resume their cattle farming with the assistance from some local NGOs.

But, their cattle grazing at Aamaiyan-ve'li pastureland are being captured in groups (paddi) by Sinhala colonists from Weli-Oya (Sinhalicised name for Ma'nal-aa'ru).

The Sinhala officials in Ma'nal-aa'ru division and the SL Police ignore the repeated complaints from Tamil farmers.

Now the Tamil farmers say they are forced to sell their cattle at lowest rates to Sinhalese and find new ways to sustain their livelihood.

Sinhala colonisation of this tract with the aim of de-linking the Tamil provinces is an ongoing genocidal agenda of Colombo for nearly 60 years.

The location of Kokku'laay village and lagoon. [Satellite map courtesy: Google Earth]

The colonisation started with the colonisation of Padaviya tank at the tri-junction in the 1950s.

Padaviya, or the ancient Sri Pathi-waavi reservoir and township were established by a Tamil trade guild, the temples and inscriptions of which at least a thousand years old could still be found in that place.

When the abandoned tank was renovated and people were settled in the 1940s, both Tamils and Sinhalese were settled there. But during the 1958 pogroms Tamils were chased out of that place and were never resettled.

Since then the Colombo government was expanding the Sinhala settlements from the tri-junction towards the coast, wedging the link of north and east. Communications were developed from the interior while the coastal communication was totally neglected.

The encroaching Sinhala settlements from the interior finally displaced the people of the Tamil village Thennaimaravadi at the banks of Kokku’laay lagoon and at the border of North and East provinces during the 1977 and 1983 pogroms and later.

What remained were only the coastal sandbar Kokkuth-thoduvaay and the Kukku’laay village.

Only after the rise of armed struggle by Eezham Tamils, Colombo was prevented from Sinhalicising the link in the last 30 years. But, it has started again after the end of war in 2009.

A Sinhala administrative division, with a toponym ‘Welioya’ renaming the Tamil Ma’nal-aa’ru, started functioning since 2011.

‘Mahaweli Master plan’ currently targeting Mullaiththeevu, Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai through System L and System B [Image courtesy:mahaweli.gov.lk]